


He That Stands By It Now

by vulcansmirk



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-22
Updated: 2014-05-22
Packaged: 2018-01-26 03:52:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1673669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vulcansmirk/pseuds/vulcansmirk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "Take a favorite piece of music without lyrics and play it over and over again until you find the narrative rhythm of a story proper to the music."</p>
<p>Shameless Steve/Bucky angst written to the rhythm of "Captain America" from the CATWS score.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He That Stands By It Now

**Author's Note:**

> This is fucking weird. Probably incomprehensible. But I had fun with it, and I thought I'd share. I can only apologize.
> 
> Prompt from _The 3 A.M. Epiphany_ by Brian Kiteley.

Breathe...

Breathe.

Light.

Sun...

...like...

...railroad spikes...

Breathe.

Breathe...

_Breathe._

Are you there?

Get up now.

On your feet.

 

Walk. 

 

Feel the ground begin to shake... Don’t. Look. Down.

Feel the vices start to gain on you, and don’t. Look. Down. (Hold...)

Taste the rumble—it’s the Earth, revolving slowly. Don’t. Look. Back.

Taste the metal tint on your tongue, and don’t. Look. Down.

Hear the green that bleeds from grass by the sun’s design. Don’t. Look. Back. Look up!

Hear the man who steps in silence... Don’t. Look. Down. (Hold...)

See the shadows shift around a complex figure. See the figure turn its body at your approach. See the eyes as empty as the space between stars. See the way they look into your chest and straight through.

Walk to him as though he’s called you by your first name. Greet him like the friend you knew a lifetime ago. Watch the recognition never enter his eyes. Watch him raise a gun and aim it right at your skull.

This ice will punch a hole straight through your stomach lining. Crush it with a surge of numbing adrenaline. Dive down low, your aim be true: buckle his knees. Fall to green in sun, on him, as his gun goes off—

Now... wake up.

(He can’t hurt you. Think: he knows you. He won’t hurt you. He can’t hurt you. Think: he knows you. He won’t hurt you.)

Impact’s sharp.

(Think: he knows you. He won’t hurt you.)

Bone breaks.

(Think: he knows you. He won’t hurt you.)

Now...

—sharp like glass—

...think hard.

(He knows you. He won’t hurt you.)

Break him.

(He knows you. He won’t hurt you.)

Break this.

(He knows you. He won’t hurt you.)

Hit him hard.

He... will see.

 

Ribs crack.

(Sharp like rust.)

Fallen boy.

_Burn._

 

You will find the man you knew if you must remake him. You will see that suns are true when you see his eyes. Grasp him by the hair and yank him into your space. He struggles like a fish thrust down upon the dry shore. _Lean..._

Let him fight back.

Let him reach out.

Let him scream loud.

Let him fall.

Look, this man could survive a Biblical plague. He’s fallen further than you could dream, and he’s alive. Let him have it, because he can take it, and he’d want you to. Let logic and memory convince you that he wants to return to your side.

Breathe in deeply through the breaking.

Breathe in slowly through the bleeding.

Wake up as though from a deep sleep.

Wake up as though from a nightmare.

In...

...out.

In...

... _up._

RUN through diamond corridors, walls collapsing. The door is marked with glass; find it with my bare hands. Walk in wilting white, and wither without water. Wait for when the wights will want to walk without me.

Hear a voice that comes as though from living memory. Filled with anger, yes, and filled with still more heartbreak. Tears and blows sound so alike to my dead eardrums. Ruined things begin to lurch back into motion.

Breathe.

_Breathe._

See...

...you.

You’re...

...still...

...here...

...you...

You’d _follow me_ to hell. (Think: he knows you. He can save you.)

You _haven’t given up yet._ (Think: he knows you. He can save you.)

You _came back_ (Think: he knows you. He can save you.) for me.

Listen; I’m with you. (Think: he knows you. He can save you.) _I’m here._

Walk with me. (Think: I know you. I won’t leave you.) We’ll take this road in step.

We’ll march. (Think: I know you. I won’t leave you.) The drum is ours.

_I remember._ (I know you. I know who you are.) Hear me? Breathe deep.

You’re my redemption. (You know me. Better than anyone.) Now let’s go.

Walls collapse before us, and we walk on green grass. Suns will shine and fall and die before we forget. You knew me first, and I will know you last of all. Nor death nor time itself can burn the bridge between us. None of this will find a solid finishing line. There is no race, no track, no guide for us now. We will build the roads, and they will never erode. We will walk the world, and we will never die.

Foundations are beginnings; they refuse to be ends. This song is our story, and there is no end in sight...


End file.
